Japan surpasses Italy as the world’s oldest nation

Japan has outpaced Italyas the world’s oldest country, with the elderly population hitting anew high and fewer young people choosing to start families, accordingto census figures released on Friday.

Japan has been racing to find ways to motivate people to havemore children amid fears of a future demographic crisis as a smallerworking population supports a mass of pensioners.

Japan’s elderly population rose to 21 per cent, or 26.82million, of the total population of 127.76 million in 2005, up 3.7points from the previous census taken in 2000, the Internal AffairsMinistry said.

The rate topped the one in Italy, where the elderly form 20 per cent of the population. The third oldest country was Germany, where the elderly defined as people aged 65 or older accounted for 18.8 per cent, it said.

“The population is dwindling across the entire nation,” the ministry said in a report accompanying the figures.

“Compared with the level in 2000, the aged population rate isrising in all prefectures with society greying in the entire nation,”it said.

The findings coincided with the start of a two-day meeting inTokyo of Asian ministers tasked with improving gender equality seen asa critical issue in encouraging young women to have children.

Read more at the People’s Daily (English edition).

Ed:  Comprehensive information on world demographics and the global aging crisis is available from many sources, including US Census Bureau, IDB (population pyramids)the United NationsPopulation Reference Bureau.